Marketing Tom - Digital Marketing

Matt Cutts On WordPress and SEO

If you're interested in SEO, or are seriously looking into the WordPress blogging platform, this video should be of interest to you. It features Google's Search Guru, Matt Cutts, at this summer;s WordCamp in San Francisco. Just for starters here is a quote that he came out with: 

WordPress takes care of 80-90% of (the mechanics of) Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Tweet This And Get A FREE MP3

Now this is certainly a new way of using Twitter for promoting a product, or in this case a song. Jack Johnson, the American singer-songwriter is inviting Twitter users to Tweet about his latest album and in return you will be able to download a Free MP3 from the album. In fact, the download starts as soon as you login in to Twitter and send the Twitter update. So, Jack Johnson's new album starts getting promoted around the Twittersphere, he gets into trending topics and you get a Free MP3. Win, win, win!

CAM Diploma In Digital Marketing

From October Marketing Tom Media will be running the new CAM Foundation Diploma in Digital Marketing. The first course we will run is the Digital Marketing Planning Award, which takes place on the 5th and 6th October. On November 12th and 13th we will be running the Digital Marketing Essentials Award. For more information on this qualification please take a look at the CAM Diploma In Digital Marketing page.

Peer-To-Peer Reviews - Helpful or Not?

Last night I spent some time (too much actually!) trying to find an apartment to stay in London. You'd think that in a digital world, with all the information at your figure, tips this would be a straightforward thing to do. Wrong! The ability to search by keyword on Google and use Google Search results or Google Local or Google AdWords to narrow the search down is a great thing. And companies like Hotels.co.uk. Expedia, Bookings.com and Lastminute.com certainly take the pain out of searching. However, the one thing that was designed to help us is the one thing that made this process take so long - reviews.

Let me give you an example. I was almost ready to book an apartment when I decided to check the reviews of the place on TripAdvisor. There were some good reviews:

And

But then I came across this one:

And this one:

And finally this one:

The apartments had looked nice on the website and indeed the reviews that I had seen on Bookings.com were favourable. It would seem that the main gripe people had was to do with the apartment block still being under construction and therefore noisy during the day. It also looked like some of the issues were teething problems which probably beset most hotels and apartments in their first few months of existence. Yet, the reviews on this site gave me cause for concern, which ultimately resulted in my going on to look at some other apartments - another another hour or two of fruitless searching.

I suppose that one of the problems of reviews, from your so-called peers, is that many of them are probably not your peers anyway. I have noticed that Americans are far more picky and demanding on these sites than the Brits, the Brits are more likely to pick up on rude staff, Spanish don't worry too much about rudeness but may focus on cleanliness. And so and so on.

There is one thing that this organisation could have done, though didn't, and that was to jump in on the conversation and start addressing people's issues. Websites like TripAdvisor allow management to post responses to bad customer feedback and therefore to try an put right that which they messed up on. By keeping quiet they will allow the value of the brand to be eroded. Here is an example of a manager who has listened and actually seems to do something.

And where did I finally book? Well, I went for one of the another apartment run by the same company that received a mixed bag of reviews. 

The Concept Of Free And Words Of Wisdom From Monty Python

Chris Anderson's latest book, the previous one was the Long Tail, is called Free: The Future of a Radical Price and in it he explores the new phenomenon of giving goods and services away for free. The opening page of the book has a great quote from Monthy Python's YouTube channel and I thought that I would share it with you:

For 3 years you YouTubers have been ripping us off, taking tens of thousands of our videos and putting them on YouTube. Now the tables are turned. It's time for us to take matters into our own hand.

We know who you are, we know where you live and we could come after you in ways too horrible to tell. But being the extraordinarily nice chaps we are, we've figured a better way to get our own back: We've launched our own Monty Python channel on YouTube. 

No more of those crap quality videos you've been posting. We're giving you the real thing - HQ videos delivered straight from our vault. 

What's more, we're taking our most viewed clips and uploading brand new HQ versions. And what's even more, we're letting you see absolutely everything for free. So there! But we want something in return. None of your driveling, mindless comments. Instead, we want you to click on the links, buy our movies & TV shows and soften our pain and disgust at being ripped off all these years.

And the results of this venture? Well, after 3 months their DVD's were number 2 on the Amazon's Movies/Bestseller list and sales were up 23,000%! 

New Google AdWords Workshop

Since my last Google AdWords workshop, I have had quite a few clients and potential clients asking me when I will be running the next course. Well, having made some changes to my training calendar, I can now announce that the next date will be Thursday, 12th October. It will be held at the ESIS Conference Centre in Treforest and will cover setting up and managing campaigns, keyword research, quality score, matching options, reporting and much more. The cost of the course is £175 (ex VAT) and past attendees of Marketing Tom will automatically receive a 10% discount. If you'd like more information or would like to book a place, please visit the Google AdWords page.

Blogger Accreditation Opens For LeWeb 09

If you fancy heading over to Paris for LeWeb, one of the main Web conferences in Europe, and if you're a blogger, you may wish to sign up for blogger accreditation. Entry opens today and accreditation means that a blogger will 

get the chance to become an official blogger at the event  They will be listed in the Official Bloggers blogroll on the conference site and will be given a “blogger accreditation” to attend the conference and cover it.

So, if you'd like to complete the online form, head over to the LeWeb Blogger Accreditation page

TGI Fridays, Facebook And Some Pretty Cool Marketing

Facebook pages are most commonly used to build up a loyal following of 'fans' and to then engage with them over time. TGI Friday's has hit on a novel way of promoting either its restaurants or its Jack Daniels burger. The company has created a Facebook page for a character called Woody, who is trying to get 500,000 fans by the end of this month. If he reaches this target, TGI Friday's (I think in the States only) will send out coupons for a Free Jack Daniels burger. This campaign is being back by TV ads and some videos on the website. The page is currently up to 248,629 fans and in order to receive your free burger, you will need to register. 

This is quite a neat concept. From the fan's perspective, they want to get their free burger and they must ensure that the 500,000-fan target is met by the 30th September. In order to help them they will elicit the help of their friends who, in turn, will do likewise. From TGI Friday's standpoint they will receive your email address and (through its app) will be able to get your profile information from Facebook. They may be able to further develop this Facebook page, and engagement with their customers, once the campaign is over - though this is probably going to be a tall order. 

Admittedly, the cost of the TV adertising will be high but once you've started to motivate the Facebook members, they will carry out most of the work for you. I like it!

If Scoble Can Be Hacked, So Can You!

Last week WordPress users found out that older versions of their software had a security fault and hackers had started to take advantage of this vulnerability - by creating new admin accounts, deleting blog articles and posting spam, often in the form of porn. One of the highest profile bloggers around, Robert Scoble, discovered on Saturday (5th September) that his blog had deleted two months' worth of entries - for someone like Scoble that's a lot of articles and a lot of time. He also found that: 

this time they also put some malicious code on my archive pages. Google sent me an email saying they had removed my blog from its index.

Mashable and Techcrunch broke this story on the same day and this is why it may have come to the attention of Scoble and may others so quickly. With an alarming headline: WordPress Attack Underway: WordPress Users Must Upgrade [ALERT] their opening paragraph read: 

If you’re running a self-hosted WordPress blog that isn’t up-to-date (version 2.8.4), you’re advised to upgrade immediately to the latest version of the software to avoid an ongoing attack. Users of WordPress.com hosted blogs are not affected.

Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress, also urged users of the older versions to upgrade to the latest 2.8.4 version of WordPress before the worm started destroying their sites. He makes a very good point in an article that he wrote on Saturday:

A stitch in time saves nine. Upgrading is a known quantity of work, and one that the WordPress community has tried its darndest to make as easy as possible with one-click upgrades. Fixing a hacked blog, on the other hand, is quite hard. Upgrading is taking your vitamins; fixing a hack is open heart surgery. (This is true of cost, as well.)

I like this analogy of taking your vitamins as many of us fail to do this. How often have you said that you must back up your data? Or that you'll upgrade your latest anti-virus? Or upgrade some software? Well, as the old adage goes: "prevention is better than cure". If you're using a blogging platform or other social media site, now may be the time to create those backups and make sure that you have the latest, safest version of the software in place.

What's Making The (Internet) News Today?

If you're looking for the latest news on your favourite Internet or Social Media Apps, why not take a look at some of the headlines from Google for the following search terms:

Twitter

Twitter and Facebook flooded with alien theories about Google UFO logo‎ - Twitter, Facebook and the worldwide blogosphere have been flooded with alien conspiracy theories about the new Google UFO logo. The logo, showing a classic ... Telegraph.co.uk 

Twitter turns you into a twit but Facebook makes you clever, says ...‎ - Scottish Daily Record 

First Twitter opera given premier‎ - Telegraph.co.uk

Google

Google's mystery UFO doodle finally explained‎ - 15 hours ago by Chris Matyszczyk I know there are some people who have not slept for fear that Google had finally committed itself to some alien culture. ... CNET News 

Google Android coming of age?‎ - Telegraph.co.uk 

Google brought to book over digital library‎ - Times Online

Facebook

Twitter turns you into a twit but Facebook makes you clever, says ...‎ - 1 hour ago AVOID Twitter and YouTube but sign on to Facebook if you want to get smart, a scientist has claimed. Evidence shows technology which requires a short ... Scottish Daily Record - 

Facebook shun is 'social suicide'‎ - The Press Association - 

PC World and Currys staff abuse customers on Facebook‎ - Stuck On

iPhone

iPhone makes worldwide loss, says report‎ - Apple's iPhone is not the profit generating must-have gadget assumed by the mobile phone companies, according to new research, but is in fact turning into a ... guardian.co.uk 

AT&T and Apple's iPhone Need an Open Marriage‎ - PC World 

Spotify lands on iPhone throughout Europe‎ - Computerworld

Social Media

NFL: Social media OK before, after games‎ - The NFL said Monday it will allow players to use social media networks this season, but not during games. Players, coaches and football operations personnel ... The Associated Press - 

Innovation nation in a tech media world‎ - guardian.co.uk - 

Is social media worth your marketing dollars?‎ - VentureBeat

YouTube

Best of YouTube: Week of September 7, 2009‎ - Every week there's usually at least one gem in the mostly crappy crowd of YouTube videos, and this week, ... Canada.com 

Made in Gwent with £10000: the road safety video taking YouTube by storm ...‎ - guardian.co.uk 

Samsung adds YouTube, MKV to Blu-ray players‎ - CNET News